If you fly in the US, which airline was most likely to bump you off an oversold, or overbooked, flight against your will in the first half of 2026: American, Spirit or Frontier?
Frontier, at 1.42 involuntary bumps per 10,000 passengers from January to June 2026, the highest rate of any reporting airline. Spirit was at 0.91 per 10,000 and American Airlines Network (American plus its branded codeshare partners) at 0.52 (DOT Air Travel Consumer Report, August 2026, p.52).
The twist: American bumped more people in total, 5,247 against Frontier’s 2,475, because it flew far more passengers. The question is about the rate per 10,000 passengers, not the raw count.
How rare a bump is, and what DOT counts
The gate agent’s call for volunteers may be the loudest thing in the terminal. The involuntary part is much quieter. Across all reporting airlines in January to June 2026, the rate was 0.21 per 10,000 passengers: 8,975 involuntary denied boardings out of 434,743,474 enplanements. That is about 1 in 48,400 passengers, or about 2 in 100,000 (our arithmetic).
For full year 2025, DOT’s February 2026 report put the rate at 0.28 per 10,000, about 1 in 36,200 (our arithmetic).
DOT counts only passengers who hold confirmed reservations and are denied boarding from an oversold flight, one with more passengers ready to fly than seats available, that then departs without them. Cancelled, delayed or diverted flights are not bumps. The figures cover the larger US airlines on domestic flights plus international segments that start in the US.
Zero involuntary is not zero oversold
Delta Air Lines Network recorded 0 involuntary denied boardings in January to June 2026, yet 57,077 Delta passengers gave up their seats voluntarily. Allegiant Air also had 0 involuntary, with 317 volunteers. DOT counts volunteers as people who gave up a seat on an oversold flight in exchange for compensation, so a zero means no one was bumped against their will, not that no flight was oversold.
United Airlines Network and Southwest Airlines both sat at 0.01 per 10,000, JetBlue at 0.07 and Alaska Airlines Network at 0.09. The gap between Frontier at 1.42 and Delta at 0.00 describes January to June 2026 only. It is not a forecast for any one flight, and rates move between years: Frontier’s full year 2025 rate was 2.51.
Most denied boardings are voluntary
From January to June 2026, reporting airlines logged 146,736 voluntary denied boardings against 8,975 involuntary ones. That is about 16 volunteers per involuntary bump, so about 94 in 100 passengers denied boarding gave up their seat voluntarily (our arithmetic).
DOT’s consumer page says, “There is no limit to the amount of money or vouchers that the airline may offer, and passengers are free to negotiate with the airline.” The regulation also says nothing in it stops airlines from paying more than its formula, and unused fees for optional services are refunded to passengers denied boarding “voluntarily or involuntarily.”
What the rule pays when the bump is involuntary
For a domestic involuntary bump from an oversold flight, the formula in 14 CFR 250.5 works by how late the replacement flight is planned to arrive:
- Not later than one hour after the original arrival: no compensation required.
- More than one hour but less than two hours late: at least 200 percent of the fare to the destination or first stopover, or $1,075, whichever is lower.
- Two hours or more late, or no such alternate offered: at least 400 percent of the fare, or $2,150, whichever is lower.
For international flights leaving a US airport, the $1,075 tier covers more than one hour but less than four hours, and the $2,150 tier applies at four hours or more.
Those dollar figures cap what the formula requires. They are not a ceiling on what an airline may pay or a volunteer may negotiate. An airline may offer a travel credit instead of cash only if the credit is worth at least as much and the passenger is told they can take the cash. The caps themselves are reviewed every two years against the CPI-U as of July of the review year, with the top cap set at twice the lower one.
The ATCR lists four exceptions where no compensation is owed: the passenger is put on a flight scheduled to arrive within one hour; the passenger did not comply with ticketing, check-in or reconfirmation procedures; a smaller aircraft was substituted; or safety weight limits applied on an aircraft with 60 or fewer seats.
This page describes the rates and the rule; it does not tell you what to ask for at the gate. For the safety side of flying, see In Most US Airline Accidents, Everyone Survives.
What we cannot say
We found no source for a bump rate in Thanksgiving week or on any single holiday, route or flight, and none for how much bumped passengers were actually paid.
The short version
Of American, Spirit and Frontier in January to June 2026, Frontier had the highest involuntary bump rate: 1.42 per 10,000 passengers, against 0.91 for Spirit and 0.52 for American. Across all reporting airlines the rate was 0.21 per 10,000, about 1 in 48,400 passengers. About 94 in 100 passengers denied boarding gave up their seat voluntarily. For an involuntary bump, the formula’s caps are $1,075 and $2,150. As Thanksgiving travel builds, those are the sourced figures; the holiday-week rate is not published.
Last checked: 2026-10-19, against the August 2026 Air Travel Consumer Report and the eCFR as of 2026-10-15.
This article was machine-checked against the sources above and has not been expert-reviewed. Spotted an error or a newer public figure? Please tell us on our contact page with the article link and we will review it.
Sources
- US Department of Transportation, Air Travel Consumer Report, issued August 2026, oversales section pp.50 and 52 (marketing carriers, January to June 2026), https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2026-08/August%202026%20ATCR.pdf (read via the Internet Archive copy; accessed Oct 19, 2026).
- US Department of Transportation, Air Travel Consumer Report, issued February 2026, p.51 (marketing carriers, January to December 2025), https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2026-03/February%20%202026%20ATCR.pdf (read via the Internet Archive copy; accessed Oct 19, 2026).
- 14 CFR 250.5, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, point in time Oct 15, 2026, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-II/subchapter-A/part-250/section-250.5 (accessed Oct 19, 2026).
- US Department of Transportation, “Bumping & Oversales,” https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales (page last updated Sept 26, 2025; read via the Internet Archive capture of Oct 12, 2026; accessed Oct 19, 2026).